St. Mary's in Oak Ridge students help less fortunate kids

Monday

Dec 24, 2012 at 2:16 PMDec 24, 2012 at 2:18 PM

Thanks to the help of some hard-working and generous eighth-grade students at St. Mary's School in Oak Ridge, Catholic Charities' Crazy Quilt Friendship Center in Jellico was able to make Christmas wishes come true for the area's less fortunate children this season.

Thanks to the help of some hard-working and generous eighth-grade students at St. Mary's School in Oak Ridge, Catholic Charities' Crazy Quilt Friendship Center in Jellico was able to make Christmas wishes come true for the area's less fortunate children this season.

Since 1978, the Crazy Quilt Friendship Center's annual Christmas Party has provided nearly 600 low-income children with an opportunity to meet Santa, and receive a goody bag with some holiday treats and a new toy. For some this is the only toy they will receive this holiday season. For every one of these children, this party is a fun and festive holiday event.

Catholic Charities of East Tennessee collects toy donations from across the region for the annual event, and for the past 25 years, the students of St. Mary's School have been a big part of that effort.

“Giving is the most important part of the Christmas holiday,” said Marsha Sega, eighth-grade teacher at St. Mary's who has coordinated this program for more than two decades. “The students really get behind this effort to help other children have a happy holiday.”

The eighth graders are charged with creating paper holiday ornaments to cover angel trees in both the school and St. Mary's Catholic Church. The ornaments indicate age and sex of a child recipient to encourage a variety of age-appropriate gifts. In addition to decorating the angel trees, the students visit classes throughout the school to discuss the mission of the Crazy Quilt Friendship Center Christmas Party and encourage all families to get involved.

“This is a service project for the students filled with great life lessons,” Sega said. “By visiting classes to deliver this message, our students also gain some valuable experience in public speaking and marketing sales. And through a written essay and a toy donation, students can also earn a spot on the delivery team.”

The delivery team travels to the Crazy Quilt Friendship Center in Jellico with the donated toys to help sort the toys by age and gender and set them up for distribution. At the Christmas party, children are invited in shifts to select their favorite toy from an assortment of donated items in their age group.

“We would be hard pressed to do this every year without the help St. Mary's gives us,” said Crazy Quilt Program Director Ed Bryant. “This truly serves a great need in our area.”

According to Sega, last year the eighth graders at St. Mary's School packed seven or eight large SUV-type vehicles full of toys for delivery to the Crazy Quilt Christmas Party.

“People are very generous,” she said. “It has become such a tradition that our school and church families often donate more than the suggested one toy. Even as the need grows, it seems each year Crazy Quilt collects enough toys for every child to take something home — sort of like the loaves and the fishes.”

***

The Crazy Quilt Friendship Center serves the people of Campbell and surrounding counties on the Tennessee/Kentucky border near Jellico. This community gathering place offers opportunities for creativity and independence, providing women's wellness and life skills workshops and training, affordable used clothing, a food pantry and emergency help, as well as children's summer programs.

Catholic Charities of East Tennessee is a broad-based social-service agency that works to address the unmet needs of the most vulnerable of our region by providing shelter, nourishment, counseling and education in order to foster human dignity. In East Tennessee, Catholic Charities operates 18 programs including Samaritan Place, Columbus Home, Parent Place, Interfaith Senior Services and the Crazy Quilt Friendship Center. For additional information, visit www.ccetn.org.